From Deer-to-Deer: SARS-CoV-2 is efficiently transmitted and presents broad tissue tropism and replication sites in white-tailed deer
Fig 5
Pathogenesis and tissue tropism of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer.
A) Schematic representation of the pathogenesis study design. Adult deer were kept in two rooms of a biosafety level 3 (agriculture) (BSL-3Ag) facility. Two deer were maintained as control (uninoculated) in a separate rom (room A), and six deer were inoculated intranasally with 5 x 106.38 TCID50 of SARS-CoV-2 isolate NYI67-20 (lineage B1) and housed in room B. To assess viral tissue tropism, two deer were euthanized on day 2 post-inoculation (pi) (animals no.1748 and 1758), two on day 5 pi (animals no. 1703 and 1842), and two inoculated (animals no. 1705 and 1810) and two control (animals no. 1754 and 1815) deer were euthanized on day 20 pi. B) Inoculated and control deer were microchipped subcutaneously for temperature monitoring. Temperature and clinical signs were monitored daily starting on day 1 before inoculation until day 20 pi or until euthanasia. Body temperatures are expressed in degrees Celsius. C-E) SARS-CoV-2 RNA load assessed in respiratory secretions and feces by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR) in deer until days 2 (C), 5 (D), or 20 pi (E). F-H) Infectious SARS-CoV-2 assessed in respiratory secretions and feces assessed by virus titration in rRT-PCR-positive samples until days 2 (F), 5 (G), or 20 pi (H). Virus titers were determined using end point dilutions and expressed as TCID50.ml-1. All control deer (uninoculated) remained negative throughout the experimental period.